4th of July Weekend.

Most people had a three day weekend to relax and enjoy, but me....I only had off the 4th and worked both Saturday and Sunday. We are very lucky that we close on some holidays when the rest of the mall is open: New Year's Day and the 4th of July. My "weekend" was last Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Friday the 4th, I went down to the Cherry Creek Arts Festival with a coworker friend. We have been going down each year on a mutual day off and have enjoyed the crowds and the heat. How we really enjoy it.... is going down early, viewing most of the show, and then having a nice sit-down lunch with wine at one of the independent restaurants that dot the Cherry Creek area. I can't understand purchasing a very expensive lunch in small portions from the street booths and then sitting on the lawn or dirt or worse to eat. It is so much nicer splurging in a restaurant where we get served. Is this a sign that I am getting old??

I actually purchased some earrings this year for myself:

from 314 Studio in the Boston area. They were affordable and perfect since I love silver. This year it seemed that there were a lot more new artists represented and they offered a greater variety of arts and crafts than I have seen in past years at more affordable prices.

Lunch was at Soleil and we had a lovely lunch of tapas. The "Bag of Dirty Shrimp" was to die for and we enjoyed the Spanakopita and Bruschetta as well. They have a lovely outdoor dining area under a tree and we were able to watch the crowds wither in the sun as they walked the festival streets.

The rest of the weekend I worked......nuff said about that........

As for knitting, I picked up the Booby Socks again and began trying to avoid the ladders that plagued me the first go round. For the last stitch of the row and the first stitch on the next needle, I have been wrapping the purl stitch the opposite way and it seems to be helping a little. I still see a little laddering....argh....

I have been taking Mom's socks to work to knit during lunch and I have turned the heel and have been working the gussets around. Really love this yarn to knit with and they will make lovely socks. There is no pooling of the colors at all so far and I am glad for that.

I also have been spindle spinning each night as well. I took my first singles spun and have been re-spinning and drafting out the large lumpy unspun portions as best as I can. I have been doing this on the basic spindle which I have learned is a Snipes. On the CD Spindle is the wool/mohair blend, and on the Eichheim is the CVM. I have enough to wind into a center pull ball of it now, and then ply, but lately I have been reading on Ravelry about the nightmare of plying from center pull balls. I didn't have much trouble with my first attempt, because it wasn't so finely spun, but I am a bit worried about this batch because the singles are much thinner.

No. 1 daughter is coming home next weekend for a baby shower and her 10th high school reunion. Hard to believe it has been 10 years and her friends are having babies......It will be quite a while before I have my own babies to knit for......everything in its own time.

Spinning, Spinning, and more Spinning, but not much knitting

What is it about the spinning that makes me pick that up, and not my knitting of several semi-complete projects? I keep spinning on the new Eichheim which is just wonderful, but I discovered the point where the single breaks and needs to be wound onto a toilet paper roll for safekeeping.

The first batch of the CVM in blue-green, has been plyed, washed, and whacked only to find out that what I thought was going to be worsted weight, turned out to be bulky. That is a quarter...not a dime!

What I am spinning now seems much thinner than my first skein, so we will see. It is amazing what happens between spinning and skeining! I used dimes for these photos.

I keep picking up the basic spindle, and still, it is short spinning. So for the white wool/mohair blend, I have been using the cd spindle mostly. I will try the basic spindle again as my skills at very fine spinning improve, since it is pretty lightweight. Any suggestions?

I think I will look through my stitch library to see if I find anything worthy of the alpaca yarn I have. I only have 1600 yards and it is pretty lightweight, so I think I will look for something somewhat airy or easy lace. Once I find a nice stitch, I will swatch and then try another "Knit to fit" sweater I learned with Christy at A Knitted Peace.

Speaking of Alpaca, I looked at the website for the ranch where my alpaca donated her fleece and they have two cameras which are always on. One is in the yard where they gather during the day and the other is in the barn. You can even sign up your e-mail address to be notified when babies will be born and watch. How cool is that! Check out Stargazer Ranch Alpacas in Loveland, CO for yourself and see how cute they are on the hoof and everything you didn't know about the animals. As a city girl, I often forget about the creatures where the great fibers we knit come from. The following photo was from the Estes Park Wool Festival a few weeks ago.

Spinning Practice

I have been spending a bit of time over the last few days with my new spindles. I love love love the Eichheim because it spins long and smooth. I like the notch in it and the fact that he bends the hook ever so little to balance the spin. There is also a small brass tack on the underside to balance the wheel, just as our tires on the car have balancing weights. The end result is wonderful and I will be using this spindle mostly.... so far, until I buy other wonderful spindles.

The basic spindle doesn't spin long or smooth and should have been passed by......live and learn. Just to compare, I used some of the same roving on my original cd spindle from my first class and found that now that I can draft as I spin, even it is better than this new wood spindle.

As for my knitting, I decided that the laddering in my booby socks is unacceptable.

I frogged back to before it became noticable and will continue from there. I had gotten as far as turning the heel and working on the foot, when I said to myself "Who am I kidding...I don't like the way these look....I wouldn't give them as a gift this way and wouldn't want them for myself this way." I have always just plowed on through errors and I feel I came to a major turning point when I came to this decision to frog it back. I guess I am maturing as a knitter and the finished product matters, as well as the process. I posted the inquiry about avoiding ladders with so many purl stitches on the Ravelry Magic Loop forum and got a few suggestions like:

wrap the yarn backwards on the first stitch (which I am trying) and also turn the socks inside out, working from the inside, instead of the outside ( which I also am trying on the multiple rows of purl stitch). I hope this combination of changes will result in no ladders. To be continued.......